A worm virus is capable of bringing down US power grid

by mohsin

The idea of hackers bring down the entire power grid might seem something out of a sci-fic movie just like DieHard 4 but security analysts say that the threat is for real. The threat is a possibility because of the use smart grids involving two million devices, largely wireless, which sends data back and forth between power stations and homes. Security researchers at Seattle based IOActive claim that they have proven the devices are vulnerable to virus attack by hacking. Equipment worth $500 was more than enough to create a worm virus which spread rapidly across meters in the network. Ofcourse the researchers did not do any serious damage but it would have been serious if it was some hacker. Such an attack would cause a knock-on effect to other stations in the network. The firm has passed its findings to officials and is not making this public. However, it’s thought the technique involved exploiting a bug in a chip used in the meters.
Source: [geeksaresexy]